Friday, April 27, 2018

As we discuss “seeing the line” or having a correct
perception of target, one of the things we tend to omit is the advantage
created by an open or closed alignment to aid visual perception. I am not sure
when golf instructors decided that a parallel foot alignment was the optimal set
up for putting. My mentors and those before my time, all used whatever alignment
that made the task easier. Mr. Palmer and Gary Player used closed alignments,
Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw, a little open. Tom Watson and Bob Charles
(maybe the best of the bunch) were perfectly square or parallel. Diagonal
stances were the norm rather than the exception. One thing they had in
common, they all would tell you that one of the reasons they set up as they did
was to position themselves where they best saw the line. So for the sake of this discussion let's assume that alignment is primarily a function of vision.

Open Square Closed

Another factor that can influence alignment is how you
release the putter through impact. We all have a mechanical preference in how
we swing the putter. Some of us hold or block the finish of the stroke, holding
the face relatively square to the target. Some of us are more neutral, keeping
the face in a consistent position to the arc path of the putter head. Finally,
there are those who release the toe of the putter through impact.

Top - Hold Release Bottom - Toe Release

“So how does all of this relate to shaky putting strokes?” Some
release patterns don’t match well with set up preferences. For example, there
is a current major championship winner, who tends to block or hold the release and
combines that with a tendency to set up closed. This results in a push or right
miss tendency. The tour is full of players who like to release the toe from a
parallel set up. This, of course, results in a pull. You can see them every
week. They are the ones using a claw grip to slow the right hand.

“OK, but how does that have anything to do with the yips?”
This is how it starts. Mechanics don’t match vision and instead of trying to
find a match we try to correct mid stroke. Hence a flip or a steer or jerk. Fixing the problem is obviously easier
said than done. Certainly, no one simple solution. Ask your self three questions. What
is the best set up for me to see the line accurately? How do I prefer to move
the putter? What is the easiest for me to change? Hold releases work best with open stances, Full release of the toe with closed. If you are comfortable in between try parallel. We would suggest learning to release the putter based on finding an alignment that works visually. Some where is an answer that makes you more consistent and less anxious.

Friday, April 13, 2018

As we continue our conversation about the Yips, and I get feedback from readers of the blog, I think it would help to organize our thinking and define some of the terms. "Yips" has come to describe all aspects of a shaky putting stroke you can't trust. Basically and for the sake of our discussion there are three categories of yips. Ranked by severity they are...

Neurological. Involuntary uncontrolled movement. The medical term is dystonia and as it applies to putting, task based - focal dystonia.

Psychological. In plain sports terms, a choke. Fear of the task, fear of bad result. We often see this in pressure situations or with perfectionists with unreasonable expectations.

Mechanical. I think of this as a reactive putting stroke. Basically you get the club in a bad position and your body reacts to try to correct it. Steering or mid-stroke fixes are hard on your nerves. feels like you have the yips, but an improvement in mechanics and the disappear as quickly as they started.

The term yips has become the "hot take" for golf. To say Tiger Woods or Jordan Spieth have the yips, when they are just dealing with mechanical issues, is a way to draw attention to yourself, I guess.

Why does this matter? Because as you look for a solution it helps to know the cause. I think the best timeline to find a fix is to start with the simplest reasons to deal with, mechanical. So initially, we will evaluate the mechanics, the learn to deal with the fear and trust the feel, finally if that hasn't solved the problem, we will talk about changing the movement pattern and try to rewire the system to complete the task.

The only thing that can stop you is frustration. As a support system I am here for the duration. I may not have the immediate answers, but I have a system to find them.

This vision test became necessary as we began using
technologies to measure different parameters of the putting stroke. Our clients
would argue with the calibrated location of the putter relative to the target. “This
doesn’t look right,” became a common lament. By using the test, we found that
eye position relative to the ball was a bigger contributing factor to aim and
stroke path direction than putter appearance. Basically, if your eyes are out
of position then nothing “looks right”.

The following analogy would demonstrate a typical example. A
right eye dominant player with his eyes directly over the ball, and utilizing a
parallel alignment to the target line, will often claim an accurate line to the
target appears left. Regardless of how an accurate reference appears, one thing
we know to be true is that you will try to hit the ball where you perceive the
target to be. Even if you aim the putter accurately, your subconscious will still
judge your aim as faulty and try to correct.

So how does this apply to the yips? It manifests itself over
time. Putting is easiest when you simply roll the ball where you are looking.
Of course, this is only successful when you are looking in the correct
direction. Obviously, if your perception of target is different than the actual
location some amount of compensation is necessary to get the ball on line. Most
of the time this means manipulating the putter face with your hands. And so, it
starts. Overtime frayed nerves can’t handle the required compensation and the
stroke gets shaky.

A Suggestion for more Accurate Vision

If you try the vision test and find you have a problem seeing the line, try
standing taller. This is an photo from the BioMechSports website.

It is very rare when we administer the vision test that we
find the posture where the player sees it best to be more crouched than where they see it best without a putter. I have always said that one of
the great advantages of the anchored, broom putter technique is that by standing
taller you have a greater area of vision and can see more of the line you have
chosen for the putt, without moving your head. This expanded field of vision can have a calming effect. Later
on we are going to discuss finding a new third point of connection in putting
to replace anchored systems, I like those putters built to allow you to stand
taller. We have had a great deal of success in helping pre -yip shakiness using
conventional putters by making them longer, with a flatter lie angle. IN NO WAY
IS THIS SUGGESTED AS A CURE! Just a piece of the puzzle. As always, make your comments below or send personal questions
to my email address.

Vision is the strongest and most
influential of our senses. How we position ourselves relative to the target and
the ball on the ground is almost 100% visual. We all have different and varying
degrees of eye dominance which makes how we perceive the task of set up unique
for each of us. However, almost every
putter fitting protocol insists on an eye location and posture that is the same
for all. I call this forcing the posture. But if we are all built differently and
we all perceive the target from side on, in different ways, is it logical to
think there is one best way?

Finding the best ball position and
appropriate set up is difficult in putting because of what we are asking our
eyes to do. We align things best when our dominant eye is positioned on the
same line as the objects we are trying to line up. For golf this means behind the ball looking
toward the target. But we don’t strike the ball from there, do we? We move to a
side on position to strike the putt. Maintaining perspective while moving our
dominant eye from down the line, to a side on position, is the problem that has
to be addressed. If your perception of the path to the hole changes as you move
into the position, the result is a stroke based on an inaccurate perception of
the path to the target. Any subsequent miss creates an inconsistent “steering”
of the putter in an attempt to find a square face at impact. We may even eventually find it, but can we
use this steering motion consistently? While this sounds silly, it is the life
of the average competitive player. On and off, hot and cold as they
continuously search for that perfect compensation.

Since
the golf ball and the putter head are stationary, in order to insure accuracy
you must position your eyes in the proper position relative to the ball. This
was the critical discovery. With some help and effort every player can find
their individual ball position and distance from the ball where perception of
direction, side on is the same as perception down the line. The solution is
simply to let your eyes tell you where to stand rather than force your set up
to perceived norms. This concept explains the different postures and setups we
have observed from successful techniques. Rather than force a position, they
found a comfortable set up where they could see the path to the hole
accurately.

Finding your Best Set Up.

Place a straight line reference on the ground and point it at a target. A yard stick is perfect. Do not use a continuous line to the target. Try to create the scenario shown in the drawing although your exact positioning will be different than the example. Any straight line reference will work as long as it does not connect to the target. Looking at the reference line, WITHOUT A PUTTER position yourself to the side of the line in a balanced golf stance. From this position, the reference line may point left, right, or directly at the target. Move around a little; as you move closer or farther away you should notice that your perception of where the straight reference line points will change. Your goal is to find the position/stance where the reference line looks like it is pointed to the target. If you have difficulty or feel you need to open or close your stance to find the position, move the ball position in the direction of your dominant eye. Eventually you will find a set up that allows you to see the line accurately. Next do the same exercise with your putter. When you take the photograph do your set ups match? Are your eyes in the same position? Spend as much time as you need to find this set up, experiment as much as necessary, ask as many questions as you need. We recommend that you do this test from time to time just to make sure you are not letting your current putter fit alter your set up. However, do not do this exercise with putter in your hands until you can find this position with regularity. Then fit the length and lie based on the following recommendations in the next section on balance and hand position. There is no harm in experimenting to see how set up changes influence putter recommendations.

Monday, April 2, 2018

I can't think of anything more frustrating in our game than losing
control of your putting stroke. The “yips” come in all forms and in varying
degrees. But no matter what you fight, or how you fight it, the frustration is
still the same.

So my goal for the coming year is to begin a discussion to
see if I can help you understand, hopefully control and for some, maybe overcome
this problem. I am not going to pretend I have all or any of the answers. I am
going to share my experiences in the hopes that an open conversation will help
find a solution. I don’t like the concept, often stated by the golf pundits, that once you
have them, you have them. I have seen them overcome and I hope with an
organized effort you can find a solution. My line is, "Just because you have them doesn't mean you have to use them." So that is my goal. To organize an
effort to help.

Over the next weeks I intend to use this forum to address
the problem. Some examples of topics we will discuss:

We will start, as I do all my instruction, with the conflicts
caused by visual issues. I have seen instances where the stroke gets jumpy as
the player tries to compensate for aiming issues. Or compensate for an inaccurate
perception of target. An example of this would be when a player aims a line on
the ball and then struggles when the get to a playing position as the line “doesn’t
look” correct.

We will discuss how vision defines the shape of your
stroke and how you might have more success utilizing the natural arc of your
stroke, rather than manipulating the putter to match a personal preference. The manipulation
is often referred to as a steer. Basically the putter gets out of position in
the stroke and you react at impact to fix it. I think this is the problem I
observe most often.

We will talk about conflicts in your source of motion and
the sequence of movements you utilize to finish the stroke. A common example is
a player who starts the stroke with big muscles in the core or shoulders, then changes
the movement source to the hands in transition from backswing to forward swing.
Random movement patterns are another reason we see mid stroke corrections that,
depending on your level of anxiety, can develop into a jerky motion.

We will also spend some time talking about how putter design
can influence movement patterns. We will spend some time talking about
alternative methods and finding a third point of contact to stabilize the
motion. With the elimination of anchored putting the most popular system is currently
the arm lock style as shown in this picture from the BioMech Golf website. Click the picture to link to their site.

We will also spend a great deal of our time working on the
concepts we need when nothing else works. Some focus on the mental side. Learning
that putting is hard and how important it is not to react to the previous miss.
How to be proactive with our putting rather than reactive.

Most of all we want your feed-back. Good, bad or indifferent.
I don’t pretend for a minute to have the answers. I do know that the timeline
we will create on how to analyze your own issues has had some success. There is
no way I can guess what you require so your interaction is crucial. There are a
number of ways you can contact me. Through the email listed on the blog, by
commenting below, or creating a thread in my forum on Puttertalk.com. I promise
to read and respond to every request. I might not go into depth or detail as I
still have my clients to serve. But I will do the best I can. If you are
interested in finding out how my system might benefit you on a personal level, I am currently taking on some new
clients and have some new options of working with clients remotely.

About Me

Bruce Rearick, is the owner of Burnt Edges Consulting, offering a better understanding of the science and art of putting. He is considered an industry expert in putter design, fitting and the relationship of those parameters to the putting stroke. His clients include putter manufacturers as well as instructors, and players.

Find out more about Bruce's services at bruce@burntedgesconsulting .com